Valve-gear.



No. 895,995. v PATENTED AUG. ll, 1908. L. E. FEIGHTNER.

VALVE GEAR. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1o, 190s.

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No. 895,995. PATENTED AUG. l1, 1908.

' L. E. FEIGHTNLR.

VALVE GEAR. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 10, 1908.

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VALVE GEAR.

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UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEErcE.

LEWIS E. FEIGHTNER, OF LIMA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO LIMA LOCOMOTIVE AND MACHINE COMPANY, OF LIMA, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

VALVE-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, 1908.

Application filed Februar-'y 10, 1908. Serial No. 415,022.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEwrsE. FEIGHTNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at 715 South Broadway, Lima, county ofAllen, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valve Gear, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The present invention consists of a particular application of the so-called Gooch link valve-motion to the Shay locomotive,

in which several vertical cylinders are fastened side by side upon the iirebox and their pistons connected to a crank-shaft parallel with the side of the engine frame. In this construction the vertical steam cylinders are set close to the locomotive 'firebox so that the space between the center of the cylinder and the firebox is not sufficient for the motion of a so-called Stevenson link, which in its ordinary operation is shifted endwise upon linkblock attached to the valve-stein.

In the Gooch link valve-motion the link is not shifted, but the link-block is connected with the valve-stem through a lradius-bar and is adjustable in the link-slot to reverse the valve-motion or vary the point of cut-off.

The cylinders could, of course, be set far enough from the side of the boiler to use a Stevenson link, but such an arrangementv would be very undesirable, as the cylinders are held much more iirmly and securely when attached close to the surface of the boiler.

By means of the modification of the Gooch link valve-motion which is shown herein, I am able to set the cylinders close to the boiler and operate the cylinder slide-valve in the required manner.

To avoid an excessive motion of the tumbling-shaft, and the lever and arm attached thereto, which shift the link-block in this construction, I connect the arm upon the tumbling-shaft with the radius-bar at the middle of its length; so that the movement of the arm is only one-half that of the linkblock.

The nature and operation of my construction will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, in which Figure l is an end elevation of a locomotive -fhebox with an engine-cylinder attached and a steam-valve connected with a Gooch valve-gear; Fig. 2 is a side view of a portion of the crank-shaft and its bearing-bracket,

with one cylinder and steam-chest in section and the Gooch valve-motion arranged to connect two eccentrics upon the crank-shaft with the valve; Fig. 3 is a front view of the reversing mechanism without the eccentric connections Fig. 4 is a plan of the steamvalve and its crosshead with the radius-bar and its link connections; and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the forward end of a Shay locomotive showing the connection of the engines with the crank-shaft. Fig. 5 shows three cylinders a, a2 and a3 attached to the same side of the locomotive rebox c, Fig. 1 showing the foot-piece l) by which each cylinder is attached.

The locomotive-frames cl are shown extended at opposite sides of the Jrebox and of the locomotive boiler A, with a longitudinal crank-shaft e mounted in a bracket f which is extended arallel with, the crank-shaft below the cylinders. This bracket is connected to one of the frames d by bracesil and j, and also to each cylinder by an engineframe g.

In Fig. 5, the crank-shaft is shown coupled, as is usual in Shay locomotives, to gearing B for driving the truck-wheels under the forward end of the boiler, but the rear end of the locomotive and the truck-wheels under the same are omitted from this ligure.

The crank-shaft has eccentrics c and Z thereon for each cylinder, such eccentrics having their eccentric-rods k and Z connected with the Gooch link m which 'rods support or carry the link close below the steam-chest a', the link being held from endwise movement by a hinge-bar n pivoted at one end to the center of the link and at the opposite end to a stationary foot n upon the steam-chest. The steam-chest is upon the side of the cylinder, over the crank-shaft, and contains the valve o having a valvestem p extended past the link toward the crank-shaft and connected at its lower end with a valve-stein crosshead q. The crosshead is vertically movable in a guide q upon the side of the engine-frame g.

The steam-chest is shown connected with a steam-pipe o and an exhaust pipe p.

Owing to the arrangement of the crankshaft e parallel with the side of the rebox, the link is necessarily placed at right angles to the firebox, and is prevented from endwise movement by its nearness to the side of the frebox. The use of the Gooch link-gear avoids the setting of the cylinder farther out from the iirebox, and thus secures a very compact and rigid arrangement for the cylinder supporti).

A block 1 is litted movably in the link, as is' usual, and a radius-bar s jointed thereto and extended toward the crank-shaft. The lower end oi' the radius-bar is pivoted to the crosshead q; and the radius -bar can be rocked, to bring the block 1" in line with either of the eccentric-blades, by an arm t upon a tumbling-shaft u, which arm is connected with the radius-bar intermediate to its ends by a connecting-rod c. The tumbling-shaft is mounted in bearing u up on the inner side of the engine-frame g.

The lower end of the radius-bar participates in the rectilinear motion oi the valvestem crosshead, while the upper end can be oscillated by the arm t to reverse the valve, or cut oil steam in the usual manner.

The arrangement of the link close below the steam-chest places it at the farthest possible poi'nt from the crank-shaft, thus giving the eccentric-rods 7c and l the greatest length possible in this construction, which produces the most advantageous movement of the link.

By extending the valve-stem past the link toward the crank-shaft, and the radius-bar from the block r toward the crank-shaft, the radius-bar may be made of suitable length and the motion of the link thus transmitted to the valve advantageously.

To exhibit the swinging of the radius-bar, I have shown it by dotted lines s in Fig. 1 with the block moved to the right hand end of the link; and in Fig. 3 I have shown it with the block moved to the left hand end of the link, this illustration showing clearly that the connecting-rod v moves only half as far as the link-block r, because the connecting-rod is attached to the middle of the radius-bar.

Where several cylinders are mounted closely adjacent upon the side of the boiler over the crank-shaft, as is usual in Shay locotives, it is common at the present time to connect the series of crank-bearings between the adjacent cranks by a single bracket-casting f, as shown in Fig. 5 herein, and claimed in L. E. Feightners Patent No. 879,617 dated February 18, 1908, and the uninterrupted extension of such casting above the crank-shaft greatly contracts the space between the crank-shaft and the cylinders, and renders the application of a Stevenson link very undesirable, for which reason I have devised the present construction, in which the valve-stein is connected to a crosshead g near the top of the bracket-castingf and is thus guided leffectively on a strai lht line, irrespective of any position into w ich the radius-bar is moved, and a great length of the radius-bar is not therefore essentail.

By the use of such a crosshead-guide for the valve-rod, and the connection of the tumbling-shaft arm with the radius-bar at the middle of its length, I make the whole valve-gear very compact and thus secure the desired operation of the slide-valve.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is:

1. In a valve-gear for locomotives, the combination, with the locomotive boiler, a crank-shaft adjacent the boiler extending substantially parallel therewith, and an engine cylinder for operating said crank-shaft secured adjacent tlie boiler, of a curved link held froml endwise movement located between the valve-chest of said cylinder and the crank-shaft and having its concave side toward the shaft, a movable link-block for said link, a rectilinearly movable valve connection adjacent said crank-shaft, a radiusbar connecting said block with said connection, eccentric means on said crank-shaft for operating said link, and means for shifting4 said block along said link.

2. In a valve-gear for Shay locomotives having vertical cylinders upon the side of the boiler Vlirebox and a crank-shaft below the same, the combination, with the locomotive boiler and the crank-shaft adjacent the boiler extending substantially parallel therewith, of a vertical engine-cylinder for operating said crank-shaft secured upon the side of the boiler lirebox close to the same, the valvestem for the slide valve being arranged to reciprocate vertically over the crank-shaft, the link m held from endwise movement adjacent to the bottom of the steam-chest and having its concave side toward the crank-shaft, the link-block r movable in the said link, a rectilinearly movable valve-connection adjacent said crank-shaft connected with the valvestem p, a radius-bar connecting the linkblock with said valve-connection, eccentric means on said crank-shaft for 'operating said link, and a tumbling-shaft and connection to same, the combination, with the boiler irebox and the crank-shaft adjacent to the boiler extending substantially parallel therewith, of a series of vertical engine-cylinders for operating said crank-shaft secured upon the side of the lirebox close to the same and over the said crank-shaft, a steam-chest a upon the side of each cylinder over the crankshaft with valve-stem 'p projected therefrom toward the crank-shaft, a link 'm held from endwise movement adjacent to the bottom of the steam-chest and having its concave side toward the crank-shaft, the link-block r movable in the said link, the crosshead g attached to the valve -stem adjacent to the crank-shaft, a radius -bar connecting such crosshead with the link-block7 two eccentrics on said crank-shaft with connections to the ends of the link, and the tumbling-shaft 'w having arm t with connecting-rod v jointed to the middle of the radius-bar for shifting the said block in the link.

4. In a valve-gear for Shay locomotives lhaving vertical cylinders upon the side of the boiler iirebox and a crank-shaft below the same, the combination, with the locomotive boiler and the crank-shaft adjacent the boiler extending substantially parallel therewith, of a series of vertical enginevalve-stem p, the eccentrics and Zupon the crank-shaft with the eccentric-rods 7c and l projected toward each steam-chest, the link m carried by the said connecting-rods and held from endwise movement by the hingebar n, the link-block r movable in the link, the radius-bar s jointed to the link-block and the crosshead g, the bearings u upon the inner side of the engine-frames with tumblingshaft u j ournaled thereinI and an arm t upon the tumbling-shaft adjacent each radius-bar.

with connecting-rod o jointed to such arm and to the middle of the radius-bar, the whole arranged and operated as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEWIS E. FEIGHTNER.

Witnesses:

H. C. HAMMACK, K. C. HOVER. 

